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Videogames glamorize violence. They do this, gleefully and without apology, and they always will.

Almost without exception if you're playing video games you're engaging in some form of physical conflict, whether that's shooting Nazis, stabbing ninjas, or stomping on goombas.

There are the outliers, of course. The Gone Homes and the Journeys. I'm pretty sure Tetris is a non-violent game, though it---like any challenging puzzle game---can inspire you to acts of violence (or at least make you fantasize about smashing things.)

Now we're starting to see connections drawn between violent video games and the rise of a frighteningly militarized domestic police force.

First-Person Shooters and the Warrior Cop

Alan Jacobs, writing at his blog, makes the connection between the Ferguson police and Call of Duty:

"I want to suggest that there may be a strong connection between the visual style of video games and the visual style of American police forces — the "warrior cops” that Radley Balko has written (chillingly) about," writes Jacobs. "Note how in Ferguson, Missouri, cops’ dress, equipment, and behavior are often totally inappropriate to their circumstances — but visually a close match for many of the Call of Duty games."

Jacobs is arguing that the culture of first-person shooters---and the aesthetic---is being imprinted on our police forces. It's not a bad argument by any means, since many police likely have played Call of Duty and other shooters. Then again, they've likely watched lots of action and war movies, too. Not to mention footage of various actual wars our country has engaged in.

If anything, we have a pop culture that reflects our tendency toward war. How many movies would never have been made had we not gone into Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, etc? How much did those films and the culture surrounding them influence games like Battlefield and Call of Duty?

And is it a vicious cycle? Do these games, in turn, help to desensitize our culture to war and its myriad ramifications? Are young people, raised on shooters, more likely to cheer war? After all, in video games we have infinite lives.

Battlefield Hardline and the Militarization of the American Police Force

I'm not so sure. Having been raised on such games I don't find myself any more hawkish in my attitude toward war or more inclined to cheer a militarized police force. Quite the contrary, actually. Still, there's something to be said for how our reality influences our pop culture and how our pop culture influences our reality.

The problem with police militarization in the United States is one of spill-over. Surplus military equipment is being transferred to local police departments across the country. And small towns are getting their very own tanks (or armored vehicles) with grants from the Department of Homeland Security.

Where Do They Get All These Wonderful Toys?

The War on Drugs and the War on Terror are essentially the same war when it comes to beefing up law enforcement at the expense of personal liberty. The War on Drugs already provided a good excuse for law enforcement to overstep its bounds; the War on Terror has led to much better armed police forces and the sprouting up of SWAT teams all across the country.

There are now over 100 SWAT team raids a day in the United States, mostly for non-violent offenses, and often leading to horrible things like police throwing flash bang grenades into a baby's crib, or the killing of a seven-year old girl while a SWAT team raided the wrong apartment looking for a murder suspect (who was in the apartment above and gave himself up without violence) while A&E filmed the entire event for a reality TV show.

These sort of stories are all too common. Which certainly gives you pause when you read about the inspiration behind Battlefield Hardline.

Polygon interviewed Battlefield Hardline's Executive Producer and Vice President of Visceral Games Steve Papoutsis who had this to say about the developer's research for the game:

"We did some research on the [internet]," Papoutsis said, "and we found out law enforcement have a lot of cool, kick ass stuff. These heavily armored BearCat-like attack trucks. They've got cool motorcycles. And they've got helicopters. They even have police planes. They have all this cool stuff depending on where you're at in the country. So they have some pretty awesome gear. And then like SWAT guys. Come on, who doesn't like all the stuff SWAT guys load up in? They look pretty sweet."

Cool stuff...in a video game. Much less cool when you're the wife and child of Iraq veteran Jose Guerena, who was shot 22 times by an Arizona SWAT team while his wife and four-year-old son hid in another room.

"A cop game can't hide under the already prejudiced notion of previous Battlefield games: that the enemy is an international terrorists motivated by pure evil," Polygon's Plante writes. "No, the villains in a cop game are American citizens with American rights. And the heroes are enforces of the law and protectors of our rights.

"We're becoming so accustomed to the image of the police as domestic soldier that we're selling the fantasy to ourselves as entertainment: That cops can behave like soldiers and treat citizens like terrorists."

Blaming Culture Doesn't Fix Structural Problems

And so we stand at the crossroads of culture and institutions. Culturally, games like Battlefield Hardline do celebrate this new "warrior cop." And certainly that's a problem, though the scenarios in the game are presumably the sort where warrior cops may actually be needed---major shoot-outs between heavily armed criminals and police or, when an actual SWAT team ought to be used as opposed to all the afore-mentioned examples. (Though I believe most, if not all, high-speed car chases are too dangerous and should be avoided.)

Culturally, when we ingest this content we run the risk of numbing ourselves to this new, deadlier version of what American law enforcement ought to be.

But the culture reflects the reality also, as I've said before, just as reality reflects the culture. Unfortunately, censoring our culture won't fix our reality.

What we really need are institutional and structural changes. Small local police departments should not receive grants to purchase tanks. Our defense budget should not be funneled into creating a domestic American police army.

Surplus military equipment is a terrible resource to give to police forces. Cops don't necessarily have the proper training or discipline as soldiers and no amount of pretending can change that. This is especially true for small police departments.

Changes need to be made at the federal level to drastically change our approach to the War on Terror. SWAT teams should only be used when absolutely necessary, and not to arrest non-violent offenders.

Meanwhile, drug laws and other tough-on-crime policies need to be reviewed across the country. These are often what lead to the most egregious examples of police abuse. The debacle in Ferguson is just one example among many in which we can observe how the Wars on Drugs and Terror are aimed largely at minority populations.

Blaming video games only gets us so far. We've had violent movies about cops and robbers forever. Back in the day, SWAT teams were largely used for the sorts of things we see SWAT teams being used for in movies: hostage situations, bank robberies, high-stakes shoot outs. Video games haven't led police toward militarization, the availability of weapons and military vehicles and the twin wars on Drugs and Terror have. Sweeping changes to our laws and approach to combating crime are the only things that will make a difference.

The fact that militarized police and draconian drug laws are expensive may be the final saving grace for a decent and humane solution. We are wasting valuable tax dollars and human life when we don't have to, when that money could be better spent in other ways (or shaved off of taxes so that taxpayers can spend it on things like video games.)

Ultimately, no matter how true the argument may be that games like Battlefield Hardline have a negative cultural impact on our perception of police and crime, blaming them serves only as a scapegoat for far more insidious and difficult problems facing our society.